Javier G. Cuesta

Readers seek parallels and answers to the current situation in dystopian stories, self-help guides and classic works about armed conflict and authoritarianism by authors like Tolstoy and Thomas Mann

The Russian prime minister has ordered the construction of a large network of prisons to control the population in the illegally annexed territories

Poseidon is one of the next generation arms announced by Moscow five years ago with the capacity to devastate coastal cities and attack naval battle groups undetected

War slogans in Moscow aim to drum up support for the invasion of Ukraine as authorities prepare new measures to punish ‘traitors’ who fled the country to avoid the draft

General Valery Gerasimov replaces Sergei Surovikin – who previously led the Russian intervention in the Syrian war – while paramilitary forces from the Kremlin’s Wagner Group continue battering Ukrainian cities

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the businessman at the head of the Wagner group, takes advantage of his political and media projection to break a taboo: public criticism and threats against other members of Russia’s elite

The Russian leader issued the instruction after a petition from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, but Kyiv has dismissed it as ‘a cynical trap and an element of propaganda’

Multimillionaires who have voiced opposition to the invasion face smear campaigns by pro-Putin media and the expropriation of their assets

Three members of the Council of Mothers and Wives were arrested last week as Vladimir Putin’s government attempts to stem a tide of public opposition to the war

An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hinted that simultaneous detonations at the Ryazan and Saratov airbases could have been a special operation launched by Kyiv

As the Ukraine conflict continues, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that there was an ‘immense’ risk of a non-nuclear confrontation turning into war

The Kremlin is taking advantage of the restructuring of Russian search engine Yandex to increase its control over the news its citizens see online

In a visit to Moscow, Miguel Díaz-Canel showed his support for Russia’s leader, in exchange for the postponement of debt payments

Moscow confirmed a meeting with Washington in Cairo in late November to discuss atomic weapons, but the Ukraine war will not be on the agenda

Vladimir Putin’s government has announced a proposal for compulsory basic military training in high schools, including the handling of weapons, first aid and trench-digging

The Russian president repeated claims that Ukraine is planning to use a ‘dirty bomb’ while the West insists the Kremlin is using the supposed threat of such an attack as a pretext for a further escalation of the war

France, the UK and the US believe that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s claims of an imminent attack are a ruse to counter Kyiv’s gains in occupied Kherson

Moscow has ordered the decree to ‘meet the needs of the armed forces and other state security bodies’ as Kyiv’s troops close in on strategic city

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exposed military and political infighting that the president skillfully exploited before it was publicly aired

Marina Ovsyannikova, once a state TV editor, was under house arrest for expressing her opposition against the invasion of Ukraine

After decades of persecution, Tatars, Buryats, Tuvans and other minorities are being called up in droves to be sent to the front lines as ‘cannon fodder,’ according to NGOs and officials

Thousands have fled the country to avoid being drafted for the war in Ukraine, although officials say over 70,000 volunteers have come forward

The advances of the Ukrainian army in the areas annexed by Russia mark a key point in the conflict. Winter will be a crucial time for Moscow but also for the West

Chechen leader and Russian nationalists feel betrayed by the release of Ukraine’s Azov fighters, accused by the Kremlin of being neo-Nazis

Defying laws that could send them to prison, thousands of people in at least 36 towns showed their opposition to the president’s escalation of the war in Ukraine

Uncertainty about the scope of recruitment and the lack of ways to leave the country is causing concern among citizens. Some air routes have sold out their tickets